About the Product Types Form

Product types define certain characteristics for groups of products, providing organizations a method of streamlining the setup of specialized products such as meetings, publications, and so on. Product types define whether a product is an extended product, as well as whether a special order detail form is available when that product is ordered. See Understanding Product Categories and Product Types for more information.

Attachments Tab

The Attachments tab lists any files relevant to the Product Types record.

General Tab

Name (Required)

The Name field lists the name of the product type.

Description

A description of the product type.

Extended Product Entity

The name of the entity that contains the attributes for extended product level attributes, if applicable. When specified, the assumption made is that the entity referred to has an optional (zero to one) relationship with the Products entity. For example, products set up with a product type of Meetings or Publications may have extended entities. This field essentially tells the Products form to add the corresponding tab that contains the extended product attributes.

Extended Product Linked Field

Specifies the field in the named entity that links to the Products entity's ID column to establish the zero to one relationship structure between the entities. Only applicable if an Extended Product Entity is designated. Typically, this field is named ProductID.

Extended Order Detail Entity

Tracks the entity that is linked to the Order Detail record on the order lines for products of this type. When specified, the order entry system utilizes this entity information to provide an interface to the user when using this type of product. For example, Meetings and Publications products require special Order Details forms to be filled out during the order process.

Product Web Page

If the products of this type has an associated URL enter the URL here. Used in the e-Business product to associate a product type to a specific web page.

Product Web Order Page

The associated URL for a product if a customer would like to order it. For example, a Meeting Registration page can appear on an e-Business website when a customer orders a Meeting-type product.

Active

This field specifies whether or not this type is active. Inactive types do not appear in the Type drop-down list for new products.

Comments

The Comments field contains any additional details relevant to the Product Types record.

Order Line Tab

Order Line Description

This field identifies a culture string that will serve as the Order Line Description for this product/products in this category/products of this type. The Order Line Description contains a series of placeholders (identified by numbers enclosed in brackets, for example, {0}, {1}, etc.). These placeholders correspond to the fields identified in the Order Line Fields field.

Note that this description is only applicable to products that are not subscriptions; subscription products use the Subscription Description instead.

Order Line Fields

This field contains a comma separated list of field names that plug into the Order Line Description placeholders. The order in which you enter the field names must match the order in which they should appear within the Order Line Description. The number of field names you enter should also match the number of placeholders in the Order Line Description. For example, the default Order Line Description for the Class Product Type is Registration for {0} at {1}. This description includes two placeholders - the first identifies the student and the second identifies the class name. Therefore, the default Order Line Fields for the Class Product Type is Student_FirstLast, ClassName.

The Order Line Fields placeholders can reference any field in the Order Lines service and, for extended products, any field in the extended order line service. So, in the case of a Class product, the Order Line Fields can reference any field in Order Lines and any field in Class Registrations. For Meeting products, the Order Line Fields can reference any field in Order Lines and any field in Meeting Registrations (AKA Order Meeting Detail). For Expo products, the Order Line Fields can reference any field in Order Lines and any field in Order Booth Detail.

Subscription Description

This field identifies a culture string that will serve as the Order Line Description for a subscription product/subscription products in this category/subscription products of this type. The Order Line Description contains a series of placeholders (identified by numbers enclosed in brackets, for example, {0}, {1}, etc.). These placeholders correspond to the fields identified in the Order Line Fields field. Note that this description is only applicable to subscription products (that is, products that have the Is Subscription field selected). Products that are not subscriptions use the Order Line Description.

Subscription Fields

This field contains a comma separated list of field names that plug into the Subscription Description placeholders. The order in which you enter the field names must match the order in which they should appear within the Subscription Description. The number of field names you enter should also match the number of placeholders in the Subscription Description. For example, the default Subscription Description for the General and Publication Product Types is {0} Sub: {1}. Start: {2} # Copies: {3}. This description includes four placeholders - the first identifies the purchase type (individual or company), the second identifies the person recipient, the third identifies the subscription start date, and the fourth identifies the number of copies purchased. Therefore, the default Subscription Fields for the General and Publication Product Types is PuchaseType,SubscriberID_Name,SubscriptionStartDate,SubscriptionCopies. The Subscription Fields placeholders can reference any field in the Order Lines service and, if applicable, for extended products, any field in the extended order line service (although typically extended products like meetings, classes, and expos would not be subscriptions)

Product Type Attributes Tab

This tab displays a list of Attribute records for this product type. See About the Attributes Form for Products.